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Murray carries the British flag alone again

Andy Murray became Britain's last hope at Wimbledon for yet another year after he fought his way into the second week at SW19.

Despite the likes of Ward and Watson making good progress at SW19, and giving home tennis fans something to cheer more than Murray, it is the Scot who remains the last British hope for yet another year.

The 2013 Wimbledon winner, and third seed this time around, overcame Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-2 6-2 1-6 6-1 in the third round on Centre Court in front of a passionate home crowd.

It had looked a simple evening's work for Murray as he stormed into a simple two-set lead in little over an hour, however the momentum swung around medical timeouts and the Scot then had to battle through a shoulder problem.

After Seppi had called for the trainer to work on an ankle issue, Murray lost six games in a row and was seen clutching his shoulder in some pain.

He then took a medical timeout himself to get treatment on the problem and turned things around, winning every game from that point to wrap up the match and seal his progression into the fourth round.

Murray admitted the shoulder problem was something that he had been feeling for a couple of days but was nothing to be majorly concerned about, while stating that Seppi's medical timeout had actually contributed to the issue.

"It's something I had the last two, three days. I only really feel it when I'm serving but it's not something that's of major concern to me," said the Scot.

"It's stiffness and every time I finish a practice or anything, I have my back manipulated.

"The physio came on the court and said it was like a machine gun going off when he laid on top of me. Literally my back cracked a lot. That's been the case for the last few days."

He added: "Obviously when you do take a break, it does stiffen up and my serve was pretty bad after that happened.

"Once I had the treatment, I served much better."

Murray will face the 23rd seed Ivo Karlovic in the fourth round and now remains the only British player in the tournament after wildcard James Ward was edged out in a titanic tussle with Canada's Vasek Pospisil.

The 28-year-old was playing in the first Grand Slam third round of his career and, despite losing to Posposil, is set to break into the world's top 100 for the first time.

Ward fought valiantly against his big-serving Canadian opponent and had led by two sets to one, but ultimately came up short, losing 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-3 8-6 in three hours and five minutes on Court One.

His close defeat came just 24 hours after Heather Watson had come so close to a famous scalp, giving 20-time Grand Slam champion and top seed Serena Williams a huge scare before going out 6-2 4-6 7-5.

Watson, 23, was the last surviving Brit in the women's draw and had served for the match in the decider despite being given little chance before the start of play. However, the world number 59 can take huge credit for her display as she kept the raucous Centre Court crowd entertained and almost made it a famous night for British women's tennis.

Despite the likes of Ward and Watson making good progress at SW19, and giving home tennis fans something to cheer more than Murray, it is the Scot who remains the last British hope for yet another year.

The big-hitting Karlovic is a tricky customer in the fourth round, but Murray will know that the Croat has yet to beat him in five attempts. Karlovic has a hugely powerful serve and the British number one admits how he copes with that could potentially make-or-break the tie.

Murray said: "I'll need to be very sharp on my returns and try to find a way to get as many of his serves back in play as possible.

"Clearly he can hit angles on the court that I'm unable to hit obviously on the serve because he's probably got an extra foot, foot and a half, of height there with the length of his arm and the racket.